Capital: Madrid
Population: 46,2 million (2012 est.)
Monetary unit: 1 Euro (EUR) = 100 Cents
GDP: €986 million (2010 est.)
GDP/capita: €21.200 (2010 est.)
Language: Spanish
Major religion: Roman Catholic
Life expectancy: 79 years (men), 85 years (women)
Main exports: Transport equipment, agricultural products
International dialing code: +34
Internet domain: .es

Fisheries and aquaculture in Andalucia and Catalonia - Securing the future of small fishing communities (December 2012)

The Spanish fishery industry is concentrated heavily in Galicia in the north west of the country. Not only is Galicia home to the port of Vigo, the EU’s most important in terms of volumes of fish landed, it also has important fish processing and aquaculture industries. Other regions, however, also have significant fishing and fish farming sectors with their own unique characteristics. Andalucía, the
southern-most region of Spain has both a Mediterranean and an Atlantic coast, and a unique artisanal tuna fishery, while Catalonia is developing a label for its production, highlighting its quality and the benefits of buying local.

In Andalucía the fisheries sector including production and processing amounts to only 0.25% of the economy, but in several towns and villages along the coast the sector contributes up to 90% of local
GDP and is therefore the mainstay of many of the small communities that populate these areas. With access to both the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea the size of Andalucía’s fishing fleet is second only to that of Galicia. Figures from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment show that in 2011 the Andalucian fleet comprised 1,672 vessels amounting to 16% of the Spanish fleet compared to almost 5,000 vessels in Galicia (47.5% of the fl eet). The average age of vessels in the Andalucian fleet is 24 years. The majority of the Andalucian vessels (52%) are small, up to 10 m in length, while about 600 vessels (36%) are between 12 and 24 m in length. Since 2008 the number of vessels in the Andalucian fleet has fallen by 6.7% while the gross tonnage has decreased by 13.4%. In Catalonia along the Mediterranean the fleet in 2011 comprised 955 vessels or 9% of the Spanish fleet of which almost half (427) were less than 10 m. Catalonia too has seen a 9% decrease in the size of the fleet and a 3.2% decline in tonnage since 2008. To read the complete article on Fisheries and aquaculture in Andalucia and Catalonia in the Eurofish Magazine, click here.